Former Labor pollster says Kevin Rudd will deliver polls boost, says early election would benefit party

With Kevin Rudd reinstalled as Prime Minister, political analysts are now asking whether his return can deliver Labor a significant boost in popularity.

Pollsters have been comparing Julia Gillard and Mr Rudd's popularity as leader ever since he was ousted from the top job and they say any bounce is dependent on a clean transition.

Former chief Labor pollster Rod Cameron told Lateline that Mr Rudd can deliver the party a 10-point boost in the polls.

"I think that's exactly what will happen," he said.

"I think it's absolutely quite clear that Rudd will achieve a significantly higher primary and preferred vote for Labor. I mean, the judgment call is how long that will last and how long - how much will dissipate over time."

Mr Rudd avoided questions on Thursday about when he would set the election, something Mr Cameron says is a smart move.

Ms Gillard set the election for September 14, but Mr Rudd is expected to move from that date.

"I have no idea why Julia Gillard threw away the trump card of being able to call the election date," he said.

Mr Cameron told Lateline that Mr Rudd would be inclined to call an earlier election if he can sort out his policy questions quickly.

"I would be inclined to go early-ish if I was Rudd, but I certainly wouldn't be telegraphing my punches," he said.

"There is an arguable case to say, 'Well, let's go a bit longer. Let's play around with Tony Abbott. Let's get the [electorate] focusing again on Tony Abbott'.

"If you go early then you minimise the risk of dissipating your poll bounce. If you stick to Julia's timetable, well then that would be about the same really."

David Briggs, the managing director of Galaxy Research, told PM that Labor had a much stronger chance under Mr Rudd.

But he says the figures are based on a smooth and unified transition.

"What we're saying in the poll is that Labor could potentially improve their two-party preferred vote by 5 percentage points," he said.

"But on the other hand that is only potential gains, and that should the party not perform particularly well through the transition period then the change could have been for no benefit whatsoever and Labor may find themselves in the polls in a few weeks' time essentially in a similar position to what we're seeing now."

Mr Briggs says the biggest surge in popularity is likely to be in Mr Rudd's home state of Queensland.

"There's the potential that in Queensland the primary support could return to levels observed at the 2007 election when the Labor government actually won 15 seats in Queensland. And that's a huge increase on the three that they were expected to retain under Julia Gillard," he said.

Carbon price, asylum seekers loom as key priorities

Mr Rudd has not yet outlined his policy agenda but the carbon price and asylum seekers are shaping up as key priorities.

He could announce his frontbench as today, with Labor elder Simon Crean expected to be promoted back to the frontbench.

With a third of Cabinet gone following resignations, Mr Rudd has key portfolios to fill such as trade, climate change, school education and communications.